Terrific cartoonist of 1950s fled from her talent

Every once in a while in cartooning circles, the question would come up: Whatever happened to Anne Cleveland?

Anne was a "gag cartoonist" --one who draws a single-panel cartoon, usually with a caption beneath. Anne's cartoons ran in Ladies' Home Journal, Harper's Bazaar and other magazines. Her books of cartoons, some co-created with a friend, Jean Anderson, sold well and were reprinted for years.

But after the early 1960s, when Anne was in her early 40s, there were no more cartoons.

Today, cartooning experts and historians talk about Anne's talent, her wit, her ease as a caricaturist. In online discussions, fans debate why Anne never became a star.

Anne Cleveland died March 1 in Portland at age 92. Her daughter, Susan Whitcher, who lives in West Linn, can finally fill in the gaps and explain whatever happened to Anne Cleveland.

"She was born in 1916 in Cincinnati, one of twins," Susan says. "Her twin brother, Van, was the darling of her life."

Because Anne's mother was ill after the delivery and Anne's father was in poor health, the twins grew close. "They were the kind of twins who had their own secret language."

Anne's parents came from wealthy New England families. After her father died and her mother grew more ill, Anne, Van and two younger brothers were placed in boarding schools or convents.

Anne was taught, Susan says, not to make trouble. "She was the oldest, the only girl. . . . Throughout her life, her reaction was, 'How do I get rid of a desire?' as opposed to going for it."

Anne's twin was verbal, outgoing. Anne was quiet, absent-minded. Unlike her brothers, Susan says, Anne "had almost no small talk."

But she was good at art. She'd spend hours drawing and doodling and sculpting.

In boarding school in her teens, Anne began drawing cartoons for the school newspaper. She continued cartooning at Vassar College in the 1930s.

Today Anne's art is on display at Vassar. "But I don't think it was something she took seriously" in college, Susan says.

Anne got a degree in art history, went to New York and joined the Greenwich Village art scene, about 1937, Susan says. "She was a little frightened by that art scene."

Anne wrote her mother that she was anxious about being an artist. It caused her anxiety that other people were "vulgar" about experimenting with their art, "that they were more interested in putting their egos out into the world."

Anne moved to Florida and taught art at a college. When World War II began, her three brothers signed up. "So she did, too," Susan says.

Anne joined the Women's Army Corps. She did illustrations and cartoons for military training manuals and films. Before the war, she'd published a book of cartoons about life at Vassar; it was sold at military PXs around the world.

After the war, Anne returned to New York and met a charming British war hero who'd been brought up in Shanghai. They married, lived in Asia --Susan was born in Japan --and spent time in Europe. Finally they settled in Connecticut, where Susan and her brother were raised.

There Anne was at her most prolific, selling cartoons to magazines, illustrating books, creating books of her cartoons. Susan and her brother were often the source of their mother's material.

But Anne was scattered, disorganized and becoming depressed. After she and her husband divorced, Susan says, her mother had trouble coping.

"She read to us. She would play drawing games. . . . In other ways she was completely absent." Susan says she missed school most days; her mother didn't seem to notice.

Anne supported herself doing portraits, mostly of kids. Susan says her mother also worked with The New Yorker. "She would have an idea for a cover and she would do the picture. They would choose a man to redraw it."

Anne just never pushed for a big career in art, Susan says. "She was curious, she was tempted, she'd dream about it." Anne had the talent. "But then she would let the dream stand in for the reality and she would withdraw."

Anne stopped producing work in her 40s. After her mother died, Anne sold all her belongings and moved to Oregon, where Susan had come to attend Reed College. For many years Anne lived near Ashland, where she bought land and helped create a commune.

"She did funny portraits and caricatures of people who went by, of dogs and goats, but entirely for her own amusement."

As Anne grew older, she became even more reclusive. "My mother walked away from everything," Susan says. "She would have walked out of her own skin if she could have."

The quiet woman had disappeared from the public eye 40 years before she actually left this world last month. She died of pneumonia.